David Bridges
Highlights
- Relationship: Chris Pérez was the lead guitarist for Selena y Los Dinos and was married to Selena Quintanilla.
- Career: After Selena’s death, he formed the Grammy-winning Chris Pérez Band and published a memoir.
- Net Worth: Chris Pérez’s net worth is estimated to be around $1 million.
- Marriage: Chris and Selena eloped in 1992, but their marriage was short-lived due to her tragic death.
Selena Quintanilla will always be known as the Queen of Tejano music, but her romance with Chris Pérez still tugs at fans’ heartstrings. Their star-crossed love story was even included in the biopic Selena, starring Jennifer Lopez. Despite the obstacles they faced, Chris and Selena stayed together and continued working with her band, Selena y Los Dinos. Thanks to his hard work as a musician, Chris found success in the business and gradually increased his net worth, as did Selena and her family. The couple eventually married, but the “Como la Flor” hitmaker was killed in March 1995.
Below, learn more about Chris, his career and his relationship with Selena.
Who Is Chris Perez?
Chris is a musician best known as the lead guitarist for Selena y Los Dinos in the early 1990s. Raised in San Antonio, he originally pursued rock-and-roll but shifted into Tejano music as a way to break into the industry. After joining Selena’s band, Chris quickly became a key member, contributing to arrangements and occasionally helping the Quintanilla family with songwriting.
His relationship with Selena brought tension within the band, leading her father, Abraham Quintanilla, to fire him temporarily. However, after Chris and Selena eloped in 1992, he was welcomed back and continued performing with her until her death in 1995.
In the years following Selena’s passing, Chris slowly returned to music — forming the Grammy-winning Chris Pérez Band, later launching the Chris Pérez Project, and publishing his best-selling memoir To Selena, With Love.
Recently, he has become more vocal as new tributes and projects emerge. Reflecting on the upcoming Netflix documentary Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy, Chris shared, “I think about Selena every day,” and grew emotional while reading one of her letters: “Remember I’ll always and forever love you… I miss you more as every second goes by.”
Chris Perez’s Net Worth
Chris has a net worth of around $1 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
How Long Were Chris Lopez & Selena Quintanilla Married?
Chris and Selena got married in 1992. Though they planned to keep their elopement a secret until she could find the right moment to tell Abraham, their marriage quickly made headlines, and Abraham chose to accept Chris into the family.
Three years after eloping in Texas, Selena was shot by Yolanda Saldívar and died. Chris later remarried in 2001 to his second wife, Venessa Villanueva, and they share two children together. However, they divorced in 2008.
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